Ghost tour offers a look into Spokane's dark side

Tree-lined streets and old brick buildings hold the tales of Spokane’s ghostly past.

Downtown Spokane
(Photo: KREM)

“Ghostologist” Chet Caskey tells the stories of Spokane’s paranormal physics on the Ghosts and Serial Killers of East Spokane tour that guides thrill-seekers on a journey through the city’s dark side.

Those who dare to step on board the bus are greeted with pins and prayer cards of St. Amibilis, who is said to protect against demonic possession, poison and wild beasts.

Caskey is a retired trial lawyer from Louisiana. After years of teaching at Tulane University and a miraculous recovery from cancer, he retired to Spokane. Following his move, Caskey worked as a historian for local cemeteries. That was when he started to receive numerous requests to research the ghosts that live within our city’s limits.

The tour guides guests to haunted sites that Spokanites pass by every day, probably without knowing the spooky stories associated with them.

Caskey believes every high school in America is haunted, including North Central High School. He believes the school was built on a Native American burial ground, leaving ghosts to roam throughout the hallways.

One haunted site, according to Caskey, is a home in the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood. The ghost of a former office furniture store employee remains at the house after he suffered terrible illness. Caskey says this man was one of the first people in the region to die of HIV/AIDS.

According to Caskey, ghosts experience great trauma at their moment of death. That tragedy can range from heartbreak to a gruesome end. Caskey believes there is something about these moments that impact ghosts to stay at certain sites into the afterlife.

What may be more frightening than the haunted characters that roam throughout the city in their afterlife are the haunted characters that walked the streets while they were still alive.

For several years now, Caskey has studied serial killers from around the region.

Washington state rounds out the top five states that have produced the greatest number of serial killers.

The most bone-chilling fact about Washington’s murderous history may be that the majority of serial killers currently locked up in the Washington State Penitentiary are from Spokane, according to Caskey.

This tour is not for the faint of heart. The tour route includes the spots where victims lost their lives. It also includes the homes of some of Washington’s most notorious killers.

Caskey takes the bus to sites where Robert Yates took the lives of young women.

The bus also visits the home of Donna Perry, a transgender woman previously known as Douglas Perry, who was charged with the murders of three women in January 2014. The bus stops outside of the home as Caskey talks of Perry’s obsessions.

Donna Perry.
(Photo: KREM)

Perhaps the most shocking parts of the tour include the habits of the folks who went on these killing sprees.

In his tour, Caskey says serial killers view their rampages as games, ultimately attempting to fool police as they perform acts of violence.

The Ghosts and Serial Killers of the East Spokane tour is just one of many tours Caskey offers. If you dare learn more, hop onboard the Haunted Hillyard tour or Ghosts of Browne’s Addition tour.